I know what it is like to have a grandpa who has Alzheimer's. This cruel disease takes away the mind of the person you love and leaves an imposter in their failing body.
This all started when I was six when my grandparents, my mom, and my younger brother and I rented a house thirty minutes up the coast from here. It was fun for me at the time playing in the sand and splashing through the waves, but not for my grandma for a couple of days later my grandpa didn't remember any of the trip. It became a problem then but it showed up years earlier when he retired after he came back from the Vietnam War. Thoughts slipped out of his head and he stumbled on his words. This made him cut off his social life and live a life of solitude.
My mom told me most of that part, but the first time I remember seeing him like this was when I was nine. During this time his medicine was very ineffective and all he did was read, eat, and sleep. At the time he seemed to be more like a placeholder than a person. Two years later he got better medicine that slowed the illness and he seemed back to normal to me for I only ever saw him this way. But really it still was bad for he could not keep up his hygiene and his personality had changed making him a different person. Then, when I was eleven a miracle happened. The neighbors next door and my grandparents got together and became close friends. Now they treat my grandparents like family which is more than my mom, brother, and I could ask for because my grandparents live in Tennessee, too far away for us to help much.
Through all these ups and downs his Alzheimer's is getting worse. A consequence of his failing memory happened two weeks ago (week before Thanksgiving) when my grandparents' dog was killed. My grandfather was walking the dog when he got disoriented and let go of the leash. The dog was hit and killed by a couple of cars. The worst part is it happened in front of their house for them to forever remember and he carried the dead dog inside after it died.
My family has to make some really hard decisions now. Even though my grandfather won't like it he's going to need to start spending his days at a daycare facility. My grandmother needs the break or she may lose her sanity. I don't know how much longer my grandfather is going to live. Because I live so far away from him I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to see him. It's a sad situation.
This all started when I was six when my grandparents, my mom, and my younger brother and I rented a house thirty minutes up the coast from here. It was fun for me at the time playing in the sand and splashing through the waves, but not for my grandma for a couple of days later my grandpa didn't remember any of the trip. It became a problem then but it showed up years earlier when he retired after he came back from the Vietnam War. Thoughts slipped out of his head and he stumbled on his words. This made him cut off his social life and live a life of solitude.
My mom told me most of that part, but the first time I remember seeing him like this was when I was nine. During this time his medicine was very ineffective and all he did was read, eat, and sleep. At the time he seemed to be more like a placeholder than a person. Two years later he got better medicine that slowed the illness and he seemed back to normal to me for I only ever saw him this way. But really it still was bad for he could not keep up his hygiene and his personality had changed making him a different person. Then, when I was eleven a miracle happened. The neighbors next door and my grandparents got together and became close friends. Now they treat my grandparents like family which is more than my mom, brother, and I could ask for because my grandparents live in Tennessee, too far away for us to help much.
Through all these ups and downs his Alzheimer's is getting worse. A consequence of his failing memory happened two weeks ago (week before Thanksgiving) when my grandparents' dog was killed. My grandfather was walking the dog when he got disoriented and let go of the leash. The dog was hit and killed by a couple of cars. The worst part is it happened in front of their house for them to forever remember and he carried the dead dog inside after it died.
My family has to make some really hard decisions now. Even though my grandfather won't like it he's going to need to start spending his days at a daycare facility. My grandmother needs the break or she may lose her sanity. I don't know how much longer my grandfather is going to live. Because I live so far away from him I'm not sure how much I'm going to be able to see him. It's a sad situation.